---
title: Message retention policy
---

import FlattenedSteps from "../../components/FlattenedSteps.astro";
import NavigationSteps from "../../components/NavigationSteps.astro";
import AutomatedNoticeChannelEvent from "../include/_AutomatedNoticeChannelEvent.mdx";
import OwnerOnly from "../include/_OwnerOnly.mdx";
import SaveChanges from "../include/_SaveChanges.mdx";
import SelectChannelViewGeneralAdvanced from "../include/_SelectChannelViewGeneralAdvanced.mdx";

<OwnerOnly />

By default, Zulip stores messages indefinitely, allowing full-text
search of your complete history.

Zulip supports configuring both a global organization-level message
retention policy, as well as retention policies for individual
channels.  These policies control how many days a message is stored
before being automatically deleted (the default being forever).
Zulip's system supports:

* Setting an organization-level retention policy, which applies to
  all direct messages and all channels without a specific policy.
* Setting a retention policy for individual channels, which overrides
  the organization-level policy for that channel.  This can be used to
  just delete messages on specific channels, to only retain messages
  forever on specific channels, or just to have a different retention
  period.

In Zulip Cloud, message retention policies are available on the Zulip
Cloud Standard and Zulip Cloud Plus [plans](https://zulip.com/plans/),
as well as for the hundreds of communities with sponsored Cloud
Standard hosting.

### Configure message retention policy for organization

<FlattenedSteps>
  <NavigationSteps target="settings/organization-settings" />

  1. Under **Message retention period**, configure **Message retention
     period**.

  <SaveChanges />
</FlattenedSteps>

### Configure message retention policy for individual channels

<FlattenedSteps>
  <NavigationSteps target="relative/channel/all" />

  1. Select a channel.

  <SelectChannelViewGeneralAdvanced />

  1. Under **Administrative permissions**, configure the
     **Message retention period**.

  <SaveChanges />
</FlattenedSteps>

<AutomatedNoticeChannelEvent />

## Important details

* Retention policies are processed in a daily job; so changes in the
  policy won't have any effect until the next time the daily job runs.
* Deleted messages are preserved temporarily in a special archive.  So
  if you discover a misconfiguration accidentally deleted content you
  meant to preserve, contact Zulip support promptly for assistance with
  restoration.  See the [deletion
  documentation](/help/delete-a-message#delete-a-message-completely) for
  more details on precisely how message deletion works in Zulip.

## Related articles

* [Edit a message](/help/edit-a-message)
* [Delete a message](/help/delete-a-message)
* [Delete a topic](/help/delete-a-topic)
* [Archive a channel](/help/archive-a-channel)
